Time 0500HRS

It takes a dedicated person to be up and touring the ship at 0500HRS in the morning but Captain Maxwell wanted to get a first hand look at his new command. He was offered the command as a last chance. It wasn't like he would ever get the new class ships. But the USS Yukon was a refit class and it was his. The experience at this time of the day was quiet and kind of spooky. It was still strictly Gamma shift till 0600HRS. Johnathan wasn't able to sleep and decided at 4 am it was time to get up and shower. He ate healthy breakfast and head out in to the vast ships corridors. The were the odd crewman from security doing routine patrols of the ship. They seemed shock to see the commanding officer up and about so early. Conversations dipped in to a hush as they walked away.

The further they walked away the ships engines humming were the only ones that seemed to break the silence of Maxwell's morning walk as he was gathering his thoughts he noted a familiar face pounding the decks it was his first officer " Well good morning commander you up and about early this morning couldn't you sleep?"


[Deck 7 - Section 12]

Lizzie was out for a early morning run. She often found that a run round the decks before breakfast was a good way to start the day when there was a lack of skilled opponents at Aikedo. So this morning she had gotten up at 4am, put on her old Academy T-shirt and leggings and went down to deck 7 for a 5 mile run.

As she ran what was her 2nd circuit she heard a familiar voice. She stopped and turned to see Captain Maxwell so she took a swig of water and greeted him.

"Good Morning Captain. I decided I needed to go for a run this morning. Is there something happening today that I'm not aware of? I thought it was only on the eve of battle that the Captain would make an early morning tour of their ship?" She asked, raising her let eyebrow.

He laughed " Absolutely not commander." Although he did see the expression of surprise in her eyes coming across him this time of day " To be fair I like to explore the ship and get the lay of the land so to speak" He couldn't help admiring her figure in the stuff she was running in. He adverted his eyes to a more professional demure " I am due to go and eat some breakfast grab a coffee shortly do wish join me call it a working breakfast" He was fully aware that they were still short in a few key areas but the ship was still docked and they had not yet departed and had any orders.

" Shall we say the Royals lounge in 30 min's"

He gave the commander a wave as headed off it was almost 5.40 and he had not yet got to the bridge and he wanted to call into the gamma shift before they clocked off.


[Deck 7]

Lizzie nodded

"Yes Sir!" She replied with a smile before heading back to the turbolift and up to her quarters.

[Deck 2 - XO's Quarters]

Lizzie got back to her quarters and took a shower.

While she let the water run, she thought about her latest posting. She had not expected to be offered another XO position after her last Captain, who had been annoyed that she had gotten the job over the person he had wanted, had set her up to fail. Though she suspected that the brass knew what had really happened. She had taken the job of getting the ship ready for departure and was looking forward to meeting the rest of the crew.

Stepping out of the shower, she dried herself quickly and dressed in her uniform. Once she was ready, she headed down to Royale's to meet the Catain for Breakfast.

[Royale's Lounge]

Lizzie entered the lounge and looked around. As it was still early, there was only one or two others around. Neither was the Captain so she sat at a table and ordered a pot of tea while she waited.

Maxwell walked into the Royals only to see his first officer had already beaten him there " I see Commander your already getting your self comfy" he expressed a small smile headed over to the replicator he picked him self a black coffee and sat down. |" Welcome to the Yukon officially as its the first time we have met" he noted that the commander was now fully dressed in uniform. At that point he took a sip of the coffee it was hot and smooth just the way he liked it. " Lets get down to business. As we stand only a handful of senior crew here on the shop so far. Most of the Junior ranks are settled in. I believe our chief SCO and second officer will be arriving some time this morning."

He took a bite into some toast and butter after a few seconds he started to speak again " what we need really urgently is a chief engineer and a chief Medical officer we are lucky to have a medic on ship though. So Is there any thing you need as First officer.?" with that he carried on eating his toast.

[Royales]

Lizzie took a sip of tea and bite out of one the warm BLT's she had ordered just before the Captain's arrival.

"Nothing that I can think of at the moment Sir." She replied after a moment. "I've already gone over the ship and produced a systems report. All of the ships primary systems are in full working order, but as our chief engineer has yet to arrive I haven't had a chance to go over it with them. I want to have a full staff meeting once the rest of the senior staff are on board but apart from that, there is nothing I need. Is there anything in particular you would like me to take care of Captain?" She asked, still trying to get a measure of the man.

He sat and thought about her question a little " can I ask you to meet and greet the crew for me as I believe those who are on board would be happier talking to you. Also I think that covers every thing I will chase command up with those missing key staff. Then I will try and see what our orders are for now thank you for joining me. Oh your right the staff meeting can take place the day after tomorrow we should have all key staff by then." He stood up " Its been a pleasure commander see you on the bridge later."

(end) If there is nothing else please add your name to bottom and then post.

Captain Johnathon Maxwell
Commanding Officer
USS YUKON NCC 50957

AND

Commander Elizabeth Vaughan
Executive Officer
USS YUKON NCC 50957

0200HRS ( 4 hours before, New day New dawn)

Main bridge (captains ready room)

"Captain on the bridge "

Shouted a young engineer who promptly stood to attention along with around 5 others from the SEC. " As you were " He allowed them to continue what ever they were doing. He headed to the ships ready room and sat down. " Well old girl its up to us to make it through this together and in one piece." He stood up and walked round the room trying to gauge the Yukon's condition. Only a walk around the ship would really get to grips with. He sat down a little at odds with himself. On his desk sat the customary stack of data pads. He knew had to start but the more he did the would be added. The first one he picked up was a engineering report from the SEC the Yukon's primary functions were now up to spec. Though as yet they did not have a chief engineer to report the ships status to. Forward to Captain Maxwell He signed of the padd and tossed it to one side. "one down" he sighed. The next one was star fleet command placing Commander Elizabeth Vaught as first officer and Lt. Raya Develin as the ships assistant medical officer. Their profiles and service records were both exemplary.

Johnathon stood and walked to the wall " computer coffee black now sugar and strong please" before long the steaming cup of coffee appeared. It was a large mug and the taste wasn't like that off what he was used to but and 2am it was heaven. Maxwell had been on the ship six hours unofficially and he had not even transferred the commands to himself yet although he basic admin rights. But the transfer could wait till all command officers were on the ship and they could be all done at once. Rubbing the back of his neck he realised that he had not been at to sleep in over 48hrs and it was starting to show.

The next data pad he picked up was a list of staff that already signed aboard and were junior officers the list and the names went on with assignment duties and locations of quarters. What he couldn't understand was the lack of senior officers he still needed Tactical and Medical and Engineering and Science officer. He knew things were tight as Star fleets tactical movements were a little sporadic at best. Maxwell decided enough was a enough now and headed over to his quarters. The SEC officers were still hard at work so he decided it was best not upset them now.

Captains Quarters

Has he entered his quarters. His cat aster a black and white Felix style cat jumped on to the bed "Aster how you doing boy" the cat purred and rubbed himself around his human companion. Maxwell fed the cat and then jumped into the shower. when he came out he slipped into sleep as tomorrow was another day.


End

Captain J. Maxwell
Commanding Officer
USS Yukon NCC 50975

USS Yukon Senior Briefing Room:

From what he could tell, most of the Senior staff, if not all were in this briefing. As the doors closed behind him, he nodded to Ensign Younger who had escorted him here and the young man was quickly away as if he had an aversion to senior officers. Jonathan chuckled to himself and located the replicator. As he stopped in front of it, he ordered.

"Large Pepsi, no calories with ice." Ten seconds later he held the beautiful cold beverage in his hand and turned around to find his seat. As he headed to a seat that gave him his usual back to a wall positioning he liked, he nodded and acknowledged the other senior staff in the room. He placed his Brown Wooden Case on the table in front of him and began looking over his Security Pad. He had taken the liberty of up grading some of the protocols for his new security department and also some sub routines for tactical sensors and monitoring weapons and activity on board the ship. As soon as his command codes were up loaded these changes would automatically take effect. He would discuss those changes with the first officer and the CO, in a strictly security related briefing at first opportunity. And as usual, now he worked on his pad and waited.

Just then, the doors swooshed open and there stood a Security Officer. She was amazing. She was also green, as she was an Orion. Very rare for Star Fleet and her presence demanded that you take notice. After surveying the room, she saw the department colors that she was looking for and headed over toward Braxton. He nodded to her to get a drink first and she understood, went to the replicator and then joined him.

As she took her seat next to him, she said in a low voice. "Serena Cahill, security investigator. No one told me you were aboard, or this is one party I would have missed. But since I'm here and you obviously out rank me. what are my orders?" She asked taking the first sip of something Jonathan did not recognize.

"Jonathan Braxton, Chief Security. Stick around, you may have answers that I don't since you were here before me. If the Captain says anything I'll handle it. Other than that, it's a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to working with you." Said Braxton

"Ditto!" She replied and continued to enjoy her drink. Braxton made a mental note to ask her later what that was. She seemed a woman of few words. No sense making her talk if she obviously did not want to. Just being near her gave him a warm fuzzy feeling. Why rock the boat? He thought to himself.

Maxwell seemed a little distracted by the woman that came into the ready room he watched her and the Security chief exchange words and then looking away he stared out the window. The Security chief he had not met formally yet although he new all about that man. After a lengthy chat with a Starfleet Admiral he had been given the go ahead for a promotion to commander for the Chief a conversation that he would have to have after this briefing.

Braxton had not noticed the CO when he came in. But there was no mistaking who he was just now. The way he observed his security officer was unmistakable. She must have only just arrived as well, because the Captain didn't seem to know who she was. Interesting, either this security officer loved to stay off grid, or the Captain had a thing for green women. This was not even worth thinking about right now. But he would be sure to mention Serene when he met the Captain for the first time. What was it his old instructor used to say? Observe and report, observe and report. He continued to sip his Pepsi.

Like most ready rooms this was large enough to have around 20 people standing or sitting in at any given time. Maxwell nursed his coffee he scanned the room. He walked over to the Security chief who him self was scanning the room. " Excuse me Commander Braxton isn't it " He said as if had met the man before, " Look I know we are close to a senior briefing but I need to talk to you after this briefing please."

Jonathan stood up as the Captain approached and so did Serene. "Yes sir, as you wish. I'll stay behind after the briefing." They shook hands "Sir may I introduce Security Investigator Serene Cahill?" Said Jonathan

" welcome Miss Cahill as the commander says please stay. As you can see we are a little short staff.

After their very brief exchange, Braxton turned to Serene. "You think you could watch this box for me whilst I talk with the Captain, and we can walk back to security together?" He asked

"My pleasure." Replied Serene already having an idea of what was in the box.

"Ok guys we are still waiting for the First officer."

[XO's Quarters]

Lizzie had just got the memo about the Staff meeting. She had just finished a daily workout in the gym she she took a quick shower before picking up her PADD and heading for the Turbolift.

[Briefing Room]

Lizzie entered the Briefing room and saw she was almost the last to arrive.

"I apologise for my tardiness Captain. I was in the gym when the memo arrived." She said before heading to the replicator and ordering an iced tea.

Once the tea arrived, she took her seat at the table and waited for the Captain to start.

(on) 1200 HRS

Jonathan had given his box to Serene and requested that she wait for him and they would go to security together. She did as he requested and headed out, nodding as the Captain approached them.

Maxwell scratched his head watching the senior staff leave the meeting he stood up and waited for the last person in the room to depart before speaking he gazed in the commanders direction. " Commander Braxton I realize that you were due for your own ship. And I suspect that Admiral Smith has drafted you in this direction. He rubbed he temple then drank the dregs of his coffee that has now gone cold. " I want you to know its not my intentions as a commanding officer to scuppers those officers careers who are on the rise. I cant understand why Star fleet has given me a experienced officer like you when we need officers commanding ships." He breathed slowly allowed the man have his say.

"Well sir, I leave it to his infinite wisdom. I'm sure they know what they are doing. But my experience has taught me that reason is what it is and you may have valuable lessons that the Admiral thinks I need to learn from you before they risk sending me out on my own. I want to help in anyway That I can, of that you can be sure." Said Braxton as he headed over to his commanding officer.

Maxwell smiled " Johnathon I may not agree with the Admirals way of doing things. But I do feel that you are not properly dressed." He smiled at the man and took out a tiny box " Here this may sweeten this assignment Lt. Commander Johnathan Braxton, I hear by promote to the Rank of Commander." he handed the man the box " From what I hear this is way over due" He watched the mans reaction.

Braxton, not often surprised, could not hide the fact that he was. As he put his hand out to accept the box and his promotion, he struggled for the words. "I don't really know what to say Sir. But thank you comes to mind and I'll do my damnedest to make you and this ship proud of me on a daily basis." Said Braxton

" Commander its no more than you deserve. Intel states this ship isn't just for exploration we are fitted with some rather unique equipment. And the briefings I am starting to receive are not good the peace we have right now might be very short lived".

"That's not good. But I have always said, the most loving thing you can do for your family and or countrymen is to be prepared. So I'll prepare the Security force for the worst possible case and run them through many different scenarios with preparedness in mind. I have made a few adjustment to the security protocols. I'll discuss them with you at our first official security briefing. Again thank you sir." Exclaimed Braxton

The Captain nodded his approval and continued on with the briefing.

Once the brief but very happy occasion was finished, Braxton departed the room and met with Serena in the corridor. She looked up and her keen eye did not fail to notice the very familiar box in his hand. She smiled and changed boxes with him. As he took the Gun box and gave her the rank box, no words were needed. She instinctively opened the box, stood in front of him and remove one hollow pip and replaced it with a full one.

"Can't have my boss walking around here out of uniform can I?" She almost smirked " You some kind of magician. You went in there a Lt Cmdr and come out a full commander. That's a trick you gotta show me how to do." She said respectfully

"You think that's funny, watch this." As he produced his security pad, and found the section with the ships chain of command on it. Then he found the hierarchy for the security department. And then started typing. " Now you are the Assistant Chief of Security. Now laugh at that!" Said Braxton as he turned and started walking.

Serene did not move; instead she waited. Once Braxton realized she wasn't moving he stopped. "Wrong way right?" He asked

"Yep." And this time she laughed out loud. Within moments they were both laughing uncontrollably as they made their way through the corridors of the USS Yukon.

Hold until briefing is finished and captain has made he final comments. I will erase this sentence before sending.

Captain Jonathan Maxwell
Commanding Officer
USS Yukon NCC 50975

Commander Jonathan Braxton
Chief Security Officer
USS Yukon NCC 50975

&

Lt Jg Serena Cahill
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Yukon NCC 50975

Unknown region of space three parsecs from Klingon territory:

An unregistered and Unknown outpost used by the Klingons for monitoring activity in the Alpha quadrant. Cloaked and manned with 15 Klingon warriors at all times. Their mission, covert spying on the Federation or any ships passing though this area. They had been known to board a ship, get complete downloads of the ships tactical and shields information and transfer that information on to the Klingon high command, where a ship could be dispatched to raid or take the ship with little or no problem, who of course would have no knowledge of this Rogue operation if they were caught or discovered.

Ghost aka. Sam Wick, had his orders. The outpost was going to have a catastrophic overload, but it had to look like an accident. First he would need the frequency and codes for the outposts transporters, shields and communications. It would take a day or two of snooping through their systems and catching them receiving and sending messages, but that's why they chose him, he was one of their best. Then he would need to set up a carrier wave to piggy back that signal, disguised as white noise, once the Klingons covertly boarded a passing ship to steal their information, he would get the codes he needed. And then he would set the outpost to blow itself and its crew to hell and back.

The tricky part would be getting off the outpost before it blew up. He figured he had two options. Wait for a passing friendly ship, or take an escape pod mere fractions of a second before it blew. He liked the first option better, but the longer he stayed on board, the better the chance that he might be discovered. His traps and small enhancements to the outpost were dormant until he activated them. But the moment he did, alarm bells would go off all over the outpost. He tapped steadily on his pad which had everything an agent Woking covertly could possibly need. It was an engineer, security, medical and strategic operations padd all in one. Now to mention communications and eavesdropping software and star charts of every major sector of space.

So he waited. One 24 hour cycle. Two 24 hour cycles had passed. He drank minimal water and ate energy bars that he had brought with him. He peed in a pouch that he had fashioned to his genitals and lay perfectly still cloaked in a personal cloaking device used by black ops teams in the field. The objective was to hide in plain site and hope no one saw the obvious in front of them. But he was clever, he had positioned himself behind a bulkhead wall with few if any sensors and not ten feet from an escape pod on the other side.

Now he waited. Sleep had captured him. And he dozed. It wasn't long before the proximity alert to the outpost went off. Somebody wasn't doing there job. But this gave him the perfect opportunity to do his. There was a ship out there, a freighter from the looks of it. As the ship passing danger close to the cloaked out post reached minimal distance from it, Ghost activated his personal transporter device which was patched in to the out posts transporters and locked on to an uninhabited section of the ship. He could find out who they were later, now they were his ride out of here. The moment they reached the minimal safe distance, he attacked the shields and communications array on the outpost and then tactical. As his body began to disappear, the outpost had a cascade reaction to the explosives placed in key locations and began to blow.

Ghost was gone, and the outpost that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, appeared for a split second and was blown to bits just as fast.

The bridge crew of the ship, a freighter transporting dylithium, was shocked surprised and amazed at the spectacle. Ghost lay still in the belly of the freighter. Got his barrings, activated his personal cloak and went back to sleep. Once the ship made its port of call, which he hoped would be soon, he would contact Fleet. With a prearranged message and someone would come get him. Which was the part he hated. Not knowing who or where that someone was. But he had lived so far and he planned to live a bit longer. Missions like this were rare. Most required a team of operatives working in congress to accomplish the mission. Ghost was a rare breed. Maybe that's why they called him Ghost.

Staff Warrant Officer
Sam "Ghost" Wick
Star Fleet Intel.
USS Yukon

Unknown region of space three parsecs from Klingon territory:

An unregistered and Unknown outpost used by the Klingons for monitoring activity in the Alpha quadrant. Cloaked and manned with 15 Klingon warriors at all times. Their mission, covert spying on the Federation or any ships passing though this area. They had been known to board a ship, get complete downloads of the ships tactical and shields information and transfer that information on to the Klingon high command, where a ship could be dispatched to raid or take the ship with little or no problem, who of course would have no knowledge of this Rogue operation if they were caught or discovered.

Ghost aka. Sam Wick, had his orders. The outpost was going to have a catastrophic overload, but it had to look like an accident. First he would need the frequency and codes for the outposts transporters, shields and communications. It would take a day or two of snooping through their systems and catching them receiving and sending messages, but that's why they chose him, he was one of their best. Then he would need to set up a carrier wave to piggy back that signal, disguised as white noise, once the Klingons covertly boarded a passing ship to steal their information, he would get the codes he needed. And then he would set the outpost to blow itself and its crew to hell and back.

The tricky part would be getting off the outpost before it blew up. He figured he had two options. Wait for a passing friendly ship, or take an escape pod mere fractions of a second before it blew. He liked the first option better, but the longer he stayed on board, the better the chance that he might be discovered. His traps and small enhancements to the outpost were dormant until he activated them. But the moment he did, alarm bells would go off all over the outpost. He tapped steadily on his pad which had everything an agent Woking covertly could possibly need. It was an engineer, security, medical and strategic operations padd all in one. Now to mention communications and eavesdropping software and star charts of every major sector of space.

So he waited. One 24 hour cycle. Two 24 hour cycles had passed. He drank minimal water and ate energy bars that he had brought with him. He peed in a pouch that he had fashioned to his genitals and lay perfectly still cloaked in a personal cloaking device used by black ops teams in the field. The objective was to hide in plain site and hope no one saw the obvious in front of them. But he was clever, he had positioned himself behind a bulkhead wall with few if any sensors and not ten feet from an escape pod on the other side.

Now he waited. Sleep had captured him. And he dozed. It wasn't long before the proximity alert to the outpost went off. Somebody wasn't doing there job. But this gave him the perfect opportunity to do his. There was a ship out there, a freighter from the looks of it. As the ship passing danger close to the cloaked out post reached minimal distance from it, Ghost activated his personal transporter device which was patched in to the out posts transporters and locked on to an uninhabited section of the ship. He could find out who they were later, now they were his ride out of here. The moment they reached the minimal safe distance, he attacked the shields and communications array on the outpost and then tactical. As his body began to disappear, the outpost had a cascade reaction to the explosives placed in key locations and began to blow.

Ghost was gone, and the outpost that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, appeared for a split second and was blown to bits just as fast.

The bridge crew of the ship, a freighter transporting dylithium, was shocked surprised and amazed at the spectacle. Ghost lay still in the belly of the freighter. Got his barrings, activated his personal cloak and went back to sleep. Once the ship made its port of call, which he hoped would be soon, he would contact Fleet. With a prearranged message and someone would come get him. Which was the part he hated. Not knowing who or where that someone was. But he had lived so far and he planned to live a bit longer. Missions like this were rare. Most required a team of operatives working in congress to accomplish the mission. Ghost was a rare breed. Maybe that's why they called him Ghost.

Staff Warrant Officer
Sam "Ghost" Wick
Star Fleet Intel.
USS Yukon

Unknown region of space three parsecs from Klingon territory:

An unregistered and Unknown outpost used by the Klingons for monitoring activity in the Alpha quadrant. Cloaked and manned with 15 Klingon warriors at all times. Their mission, covert spying on the Federation or any ships passing though this area. They had been known to board a ship, get complete downloads of the ships tactical and shields information and transfer that information on to the Klingon high command, where a ship could be dispatched to raid or take the ship with little or no problem, who of course would have no knowledge of this Rogue operation if they were caught or discovered.

Ghost aka. Sam Wick, had his orders. The outpost was going to have a catastrophic overload, but it had to look like an accident. First he would need the frequency and codes for the outposts transporters, shields and communications. It would take a day or two of snooping through their systems and catching them receiving and sending messages, but that's why they chose him, he was one of their best. Then he would need to set up a carrier wave to piggy back that signal, disguised as white noise, once the Klingons covertly boarded a passing ship to steal their information, he would get the codes he needed. And then he would set the outpost to blow itself and its crew to hell and back.

The tricky part would be getting off the outpost before it blew up. He figured he had two options. Wait for a passing friendly ship, or take an escape pod mere fractions of a second before it blew. He liked the first option better, but the longer he stayed on board, the better the chance that he might be discovered. His traps and small enhancements to the outpost were dormant until he activated them. But the moment he did, alarm bells would go off all over the outpost. He tapped steadily on his pad which had everything an agent Woking covertly could possibly need. It was an engineer, security, medical and strategic operations padd all in one. Now to mention communications and eavesdropping software and star charts of every major sector of space.

So he waited. One 24 hour cycle. Two 24 hour cycles had passed. He drank minimal water and ate energy bars that he had brought with him. He peed in a pouch that he had fashioned to his genitals and lay perfectly still cloaked in a personal cloaking device used by black ops teams in the field. The objective was to hide in plain site and hope no one saw the obvious in front of them. But he was clever, he had positioned himself behind a bulkhead wall with few if any sensors and not ten feet from an escape pod on the other side.

Now he waited. Sleep had captured him. And he dozed. It wasn't long before the proximity alert to the outpost went off. Somebody wasn't doing there job. But this gave him the perfect opportunity to do his. There was a ship out there, a freighter from the looks of it. As the ship passing danger close to the cloaked out post reached minimal distance from it, Ghost activated his personal transporter device which was patched in to the out posts transporters and locked on to an uninhabited section of the ship. He could find out who they were later, now they were his ride out of here. The moment they reached the minimal safe distance, he attacked the shields and communications array on the outpost and then tactical. As his body began to disappear, the outpost had a cascade reaction to the explosives placed in key locations and began to blow.

Ghost was gone, and the outpost that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, appeared for a split second and was blown to bits just as fast.

The bridge crew of the ship, a freighter transporting dylithium, was shocked surprised and amazed at the spectacle. Ghost lay still in the belly of the freighter. Got his barrings, activated his personal cloak and went back to sleep. Once the ship made its port of call, which he hoped would be soon, he would contact Fleet. With a prearranged message and someone would come get him. Which was the part he hated. Not knowing who or where that someone was. But he had lived so far and he planned to live a bit longer. Missions like this were rare. Most required a team of operatives working in congress to accomplish the mission. Ghost was a rare breed. Maybe that's why they called him Ghost.

That mission was over a month ago! He had refreshed himself and had new orders. He was to proceed to The USS Yukon which was gathering crew in space dock. There he would be a crucial part of the tip of the sword. He did not know it yet, but he was joining a hand picked crew of some of the best in the business. The Yukon could become as well known as the Enterprise with the compliment and calibre of the crew that he would be joining.

Staff Warrant Officer
Sam "Ghost" Wick
Star Fleet Intel.
USS Yukon

Personal Log:
Serene Cahill
Security Investigator
ASEC
USS Yukon

Serene sat in Securities main office. She was looking at cold cases that had been dumped in her lap, when the previous crew of the now refit Yukon were on board. There was nothing major, but a few careers could be finished of some of these cases were solved. Maybe the previous security dept. We're lax, and let things slide. Well, she thought to herself. The buck stops here. She had no idea what that meant, but she had heard some serious kick ass dudes use the expression back in Star Fleet Security, so she had adapted it into here vocabulary.

Another saying she heard at the academy that she could not wait to use was, These guys are the Gold Standard of ass kicking, strictly old school! She had no idea when she would use it, but it sounded good. As she looked through the cold cases, something leapt out at her. It was an entry made by the old security chief. Apparently, a junior officer had accused the old XO of sleeping with his wife. The case was as yet unfounded.

Cahill tapped the terminal in front of her. She found out where the XO had transferred to and began asking questions of the Security Operative on the other end. Once she had the info she needed she forwarded her finding to Star Fleet so they could continue the investigation with the XO's next command. Job done.

The next file she opened contained information on four ensigns who had been suspected of minor infractions ranging from petty larceny to insubordination. After reviewing the file, Cahill found that no convictions were made because segments of memory had been tampered with. Now that the Yukon had undergone a refit, she was able to piece together the missing segments and could see that Williams, Johnson, Smith and Jones had all been working in congress together committing these infractions. She down loaded the pertinent data, packaged it and forwarded the information to the new command to which these troubled individuals had been sent and within hours the Smith and Jones gang were in the Brig.

All that was left now to do was find one witness who was still on board questions her and send that affidavit on the The Jag officer who would be prosecuting the case. When she had completed her duties for the day, she sat back and waited for Braxton to get back to the office. They had unfinished business yo attend to.

End of personal log:

Special Agent Serene Cahill
Assistant Sec. Chief
SF Security Investigator Afloat
USS Yukon

(on)

Maxwell sat back in the chair in his ready room he looked at the Data PaDD once again.

"Captain Maxwell of the USS Yukon your mission as of this star date is investigate a small amount of ships attacking non federation colonies along Federation Borders. Intel reports suggest that this individuals are ex federation and Starfleet personal. Good luck Yukon and Good Speed".

He sighed at the message once again this was job even he hated. " Captain to the Bridge get us under way Warp 5 once we have cleared the Star base outer marker" the flight control officer replied. " Aye Sir". He stood up and got himself a coffee. " All senior officer please report to the ward room Mission briefing" Leaving his ready room he walked down to the deck that the ward room was situated. He set the room up ready for the mission briefing. He waited for the officers to turn up. He re read the orders. He knew a person on this ship that this mission would more that intrigue.

Devine knew this was finally time to get some proper work done when she heard the customary call to the ward room. she handed her current task to a another officer and then proceeded to the place of the meeting as per most ships she served on she saw a list of command officers also heading towards the meetings some she knew some she didn't. She nodded to those she didn't. She arrived at the place she asked to attend. " Greetings Captain" She flashed him a smile then when and got herself a cold tea. and sat down. She wondered what adventures were heading there way.

Down in her office in Sciences, and hearing the hail, Matty looked up from the boredom which was seemingly incessant PADDs of scientific research notes that had to be signed off by her. "Ah well,..." she thought to herself, "...time to stretch the legs!" Grabbing a fresh Ratkajino from the replicator, she walked to the turbolift then took it to the Bridge.

She nodded to the officer of the comm, and a few of the cadets that she knew manning stations on the Bridge then stepped over to the ward room.

"Captain,..." she said nodding and smiling at Jonathan. She gave nods to the other officers and smiling at the ones she knew. "Let's see what's in store for us *this* time!" she thought to herself.

It wasn't long before the officers started filling the room firstly his Assistant Medical Officer had arrived and got her self cold tea and something he could never get his head round but each to there own. " Greetings Lt Devline I trust your finding things Ok. He noted that Matty has now in the room she had brought her coffee with her she sat down " Hello Commander I hope your settling in ok.

Derrick was new to the crew just like everyone else. But it did not change what was about to happen one bit. They had orders, which meant time to plan because failing to plan was planning to fail. He grabbed his pad and headed for the briefing.

As he rounded a corner, he bumped into his newest friend, J. Braxton and his assistant security chief and investigator Serena.

"Hi guys, headed to the briefing? " asked Derrick

"Yep, and looking forward to it." Replied Braxton "I'm tired of sitting on my hands. It's time we got down to business. This could be one hell of a good crew." Said Braxton as Serena nodded her approval. The three of them headed off down the corridor together.

Briefing Room:

As they entered, it looked like everyone had arrived and they were the last. They took thier places and waited for the Captain to get started.

He welcomed the officers who had arrived he saw Commander Braxton walk in also " Commander could I have a word with you before we start" He motioned the man away from the table in the corner looking out into the stars. He handed the man the mission orders " Johnathan Considering your area of expertise I am handing the briefing to you as you have an some experience with the Marque. This is going to be one awkward mission in my eyes. Apprehending former fleet officer and federation personal could be quiet messy."

Braxton read the mission brief and frowned. " Ok sir, I'll take the lead from here." And they both turned back to the staff in attendance.

"Hello everyone, some of you know me and some don't. I'm Cmdr. Braxton and the Chief Security Officer for the Yukon. The Captain has asked me to conduct this briefing because oPSec, or operational security will be the key to our success on this one. The mission at hand is to locate, evaluate and capture an ex Federation officer who went over to a terrorist group called The Marquis. His name is Mister Cairo. We believe he is in possession of Federation security codes, possibly shield harmonics codes and may have helpers who are still in the federation. So compartmentalising this op is crucial to our success. I don't want anyone to feel like you are not a part of the mission itself, so just by doing your individual jobs properly, you are helping a great deal. Medical, I will need you to brush up on Bioginic weapons as its been mentioned in this Intel brief that there is the possibility he will have access to such weapons. Security will be patrolling the ship in groups of two working from a pass code that will change at different increments that only they will be privy to. Strategic ops will gather as much info as possible before we attempt to make an apprehension once we locate our target. You all know your jobs. Follow Star Fleet protocol and pay attention to detail. Once underway, we will begin running drills based on info we have already. The drills will change as we get better and gain more info. Our targets last known position was in the Badlands in the Gamma Quadrant. So unless there are any questions, I'll turn it over to you sir." Looking at the Captain

Lizzie had made her way quietly into the Wardroom and listened without comment as Braxton presented the report. When she heard the name 'Maquis' she frowned. B ut she waited for him to finish before speaking.

"Excuse me Commander. But what evidence do we have that it's the Maquis? All reports that I've read indicate that they were all either captured or killed during the Federation/Domminion War? And who is Mister Cairo and how did he get the security codes?" She asked, as nothing that Braxton had said tallied with official Starfleet records.

"I will put this as delicately as I can. The Captain just handed me a pad. On that pad is a directive from Star Fleet. The information I just gave you is all we have. But I will indulge you further. First off there is no way anyone in this room can be sure that All the Marquis were dead. If I remember correctly, half of the Voyager crew were Marquis. Secondly, this Mr Cairo is an ex Federation officer. It would stand to reason that he might have the security codes or at the very least know how to get them. And last but certainly not least, Fleet Intel is not on trial here. We get a mission, we carry it out. And finally, even if I had the answers to those particular questions, I would not answer them here, because operational security means need to know only, and not everybody in this room has a definant need to know those answers. If you have anything further speak to the Captain. If he wants to share that data or info with the rest of you, he is welcome to do so, but urged not to! If I must play devils advocate I will. Doctor I would prefer it if you dealt with the possibility of Biogenic weapons being used and how we deal with that. Credible information will come to us as we progress in this investigation. Everyone that needs to be brought up to speed on thier specific part in this mission will be." Said Braxton and looked to the Captain to answer any more questions

Maxwell stood there watching his officers discussing the current mission " Ok both of you are right that the Marquis were either captured or killed. But none of us in this room really understand how far the Marquis ideology actually went and how many of them are still out in the galaxy." He considered Braxton's statement " Commander Braxton is it possible that theses people still have the use of such weapons" He knew very well it could be possible but still it was a valid question.

"We have to assume it is possible! Though there is no way to know for sure." Said Braxton

He looked round the room "if there's no more questions I suggest we all get on with the other parts of this puzzle and discover what the hell is going on. " He paused " How are we squaring up ship wise Commander Vaughn."

"No questions, Captain... just a comment." Matty said hesitantly. "As a Scientist, I've learnt over the years the maxim 'Nothing is Impossible'... species thought extinct have come back from the dead. Creatures can be resurrected from DNA strands. Now...that aside, the phrase '*captured*, or killed' intrigues me. Captured means that, potentially at least, they have the opportunity to escape... there are Marquis that are alive. Who's to say that one, some, many?! DID escape and are now rather pissed at us... by which I mean the Federation... it's not implausible. Like Braxton said... we have to assume it's possible and plausible until... like in a scientific experiment, we prove it inconclusively otherwise. I for one would not like to be caught by the Marquis while I was thinking they were a tame pussycat so to speak with all living examples in captivity!"

She looked apologetically at Lizzie. "I'm sorry Commander, it's just how my analytical brain works. Your argument is sound too, but better safe than sorry in this case."

Lizzie looked at Matty and smiled.

"No offence taken. And while I agree that nothing is impossible, when we have one piece of information that disagrees with everything else I have to question it's validity. And as for the how far the Maquis went, I was involved at quite a high level in the investigations that followed the Dominion war into the Maquis and not one report or piece of evidence indicated there were more out there. We have to look into it of course, but we should be skeptical.

"In my experiences, when a powerful person or group is taken down, there's always another insignificant creep that thinks they can feel that void. That's how I see this mister Cairo character. He is an opportunist who sees an opening in the fabric of dirt-bag continuum and he wants to fill it. Well I say we find this creep, and show him that the Federation don't take kindly to rabble rousers resurrecting dead terrorist groups and starting trouble." Replied Braxton

Lizzie nodded

"Then, whatever his motives. if he has betrayed the values of Starfleet we need to take him down." She replied, her face calm and her tone emotionless.

"You will get no argument out of me on that." Said Braxton
Maxwell considered the officer conversations " Ok if there's nothing else we all have our orders lets get to work" He watched as the officer walked away. There was some thing about his first officer and the second officers they still seemed unsure of each other and he was not sure what it was. But for the sake of the ship he hoped that they would work out.

Captain Maxwell
Commanding Officer

Commander Elizabeth Vaughn
First Officer

Commander Johnathon Braxton
Chief Security Officer

Commander Matty Wardropper
Chief Science Officer

Lt. Derrick White
Intel Officer

Lt JG Reyea Devlin
ACMO

Tag Anyone

(on)

Johnathan was sat by him self in the ready room as his ship was now underway. Most of the work he was dealing with was routine ship stuff. He got up to get a coffee when his terminal beeped.

= IN COMIMNG MESSAGE FROM STAR FLEET INTELLIGENCE=

*For the attention of Captain Johnathan Maxell, Commanding Officer, USS Yukon NCC 50975*
*Subject Marquis*

The Maquis were formed in the 24th century after a peace treaty was enacted between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union, redesignating the demilitarized zone between the two powers, which resulted in the Federation ceding several of their colony worlds to the Cardassians. Although the colonists were offered free relocation to elsewhere in Federation territory, some insisted on remaining on the ceded worlds, effectively becoming Cardassian Union citizens. Some of these colonists subsequently formed the Maquis to protect themselves from Cardassian aggression, although they received no official support from the Federation, who feared breaking the peace treaty with the Cardassians, which would lead to war

##
Nonetheless, various Federation members supported the Maquis' cause, and illegally helped to supply them with weapons and other technology that they could use in their struggle. In several cases, the Federation actually intervened in the war between the Maquis and the Cardassians, aiding the latter in recognition of the peace treaty. In one case, the Federation ship USS Voyager tracked a Maquis vessel to the Badlands with the intention of apprehending it, but an alien force transported both to the Delta Quadrant, on the opposite side of the Milky Way Galaxy. The two crews were forced to unite to survive against alien threats such as the Kazon. In later years, when the Cardassian Union joined forces with the Dominion to fight in the Dominion War against the Federation, the Dominion aided the Cardassian military in obliterating the Maquis, a prelude to their war against the Federation and its allies.

###

* Ships information*
These vessels are constructed to civilian standards and have less powerful warp drives than most of the Federations primary warships but they do have a powerful impulse engine and have good combat performance. The Raiders are operated much like a large fighter and much like the Klingon Birds of Prey. Like many ships their size and smaller, the Raider can land on planets. The hull of the vessel is less strong than a purpose built corvette might but can still withstand enough damage to be worthwhile. The whole design is modular and is designed for easy replacement. When sold to outside interests, the shields were replaced by civilian shield generators but were upgraded back to military standards in the vessel that the Maquis refitted.

In weapon systems, most of the Maquis Raiders have salvaged weapon systems. This makes for a huge amount of variation but listed is the most common design. Most common beam weaponry are two mounts of heavy phaser cannons mounted with one on each of the wings of the vessel. These weapons are normally fired forward and are capable of destroying a fighter quickly and swarming threatens even the most powerful of larger vessels. While the vessels originally did not carry them, many have been refitted with mini-photon torpedo launchers. These are good for powerful pinpoint attacks. Finally, these vessels can carry up to 24 full sized photon torpedoes carried underneath the Raider.

These ships were designed to use a crew of twelve but can be operated quite well by as small a crew as four. Unlike most older Corvettes, the Raider was designed to be able to carry about twenty troops along with the standard crew. The vessels accommodations are fairly comfortable for its size but cannot support a flag officer even in emergency. Because the vessels have no small craft, the ships either must use transporters, hard dock themselves, or land on a planet to disembark or embark personnel

####

Ship data
Statistical Data:
Length: 196.85 feet (60 meters)
Height: 47.90 feet (14.6 meters)
Width: 216.54 feet (66 meters)
Mass: 661.39 Tons (600 metric tons) (Daystrom Institute Technical Library)
Power System: Advanced Micro Fusion with 10 year life span.
Cargo: Small Storage Space 40x20x20 feet (12.2x6.1x6.1 meters).
Market Cost: 350 million credits to construcnhjt originally. Stripped Version were sold for about 220 million credits. All weapons were salvaged for Maquis Raiders and the refit costs around 120 million credits for materials.

######
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
Two (2) Heavy Phaser Cannon Mounts: Corvettes primary energy weapon system. Weapons are mounted on the Corvettes Wings. The weapons damage is about equal to laser cannons used by the CAF but the Phasers have a greater rate of fire. The phasers are also slightly shorter ranged then CAF lasers but only slightly shorter ranged. Both Phaser Cannons in each bank can be linked or can be fired separately. They cannot be used faster than the speed of light. Weapons system has half the normal penalties to hit fighters and small targets.
Maximum Effective Range: 9,328 miles (15,000 km), range is halved in atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 1D6x100 M.D.C. each (2D6x100 M.D.C. for both)
Rate of Fire: Maximum of three (3) times per melee.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Mini-Photon Torpedo Launchers (2): The launchers are mounted on the sides of the vessel. The launcher can carry 24 mini-photon torpedoes each for 48 total
Mini-Photon Torpedoes are about half way between the size of long range missiles and medium range missile. Once spread of torpedoes has been launched, the launchers must be reloaded. In the early service of this shuttle, it carried photon torpedoes which are anti-matter/matter warheads but they can carry quantum torpedoes when they are available.
Mini-Torpedoes have a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. When drive goes dead, the torpedo will continue to travel in a straight line unless preset to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and torpedoes when dead at -25% to detect.) See modified starship rules for more details. Launchers can launch on multiple targets each.
Maximum Effective Range: Mini-Photon Torpedoes: Powered torpedo range is 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space
Mega-Damage & Properties: Mini-Photon Torpedoes (Matter/Anti-Matter Warheads): Old Series inflict 3D6x10 each, Star Trek Movies One through Six inflict 4D6x10, and Next Generation inflicts 5D6x10 each. Mini-Quantum Torpedoes: 1D6x100 each.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2 or 4 per melee
Payload: 24 mini-torpedoes per launcher for 48 total
Photon Torpedo Hard Points: The Maquis Raider can carry twenty four photon torpedoes under the ship. This is the main weapon the fighter uses against capital ships.
Standard Torpedoes has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). When drive goes dead, the torpedo will continue to travel in a straight line unless preset to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and torpedoes when dead at -25% to detect.) See Modified starship rules for more details. Full size torpedoes have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Launchers can launch on multiple targets each.
Maximum Effective Range: Standard Torpedoes: Powered torpedo range is 8000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space
Mega-Damage & Properties: Standard Photon Torpedoes (Matter/Anti-Matter Warheads): Old Series inflict 2D6x100 each, Star Trek Movies One through Six inflict 3D6x100, and Next Generation inflicts 4D6x100 each. Standard Quantum Torpedoes: 8D6x100 each.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2,4, 6, 8, or 12 per melee
Payload: 24 full sized torpedoes

= End of Message=


Johnathon sat down and read the data that now was available to him. It was archived but at this moment but due to current circumstances it was much needed.

End

Captain Johnathan Maxwell
Commanding Officer

The Brief began:

Top Secret-Intel Eyes Only

Sam tapped a few buttons to enter his Intel passcode. The screen came to life and several encryption sequences took place, before it was readable.

Space, the final frontier. Survival in space depended on three things. Air Water and food. Without any one of these, you will not survive in space. But even if you had these three essential ingredients, there is no guarantee that you will make it based on several facts that most people don't think of until it's too late.

There are forces in Space that will force your existence, one way or the other. Take for example the Breen Empire, or The Klingons for example. These alien races have been capable of interstellar travel for hundreds if not thousands of years. Making them in essence to humans, superior on some fronts. But we Humans learn and adapt quicker than we are given credit for, thus out quest for intelligence.

If you know what the enemies goals are, you can build a defense against their advancing toward you and your kind. A governments job is to protect its people. During the conflict with the Cardassians, the Bajorans failed miserably in protecting their people and they ended up enslaved forced to work in labour camps mining deuterium and dilithium and very ill treated.

Humanity learned a lot from that occupation. One of the things it learned was how to combat these possible out comes for the inhabitants of the Alpha Sector. And Intelligence is and always will be the key. Therefore a strong intelligence program would be needed to make sure that Earth and its allies never befell the same fate as the Bajorans or any other race that was forced to do anything other than live and let live!

Sam put down the top secret communication and began formulating a plan to ensure the longevity of life in the Alpha quadrant. Step one, was to find like minded people. People who understood that to live in space was not a choice. It was evolution. Mankind didn't have a choice. Natural resources on Earth were drying up. Earths population made living off planet as necessity rather than a choice. And the long and short of it is simple. There's gonna be other alien races that might not want to share space with us.

And if that was the case, we would need to know everything we could about every race of aliens that we encountered. That meant building an intelligence operation like none ever seen before. Operatives who were ready to go under the knife to alter their appearance in order to gain critical information of our enemy's in order to stay one if not two steps ahead of them, and die in the performance of these duties if need be.

Sam could see the enormity of his duties. The problem was, his command would have a hard time with this part of his duties if they did not know about it. So Sam would have to bring his Commanding Officer into the Loop. There were other officers like the Chief of Security that were like minded, But the Captain might not like this at all. He was however a reasonable man. Sam made a note to talk to him soon.

Staff Warrant Officer
Sam Wick (NPC)
Intel Chief
USS Yukon

(on)

Maxwell had sat in his ready room and realised to his disgust that he actually had not spoken to Commander Wardropper his Chief Science officer she was around the ship some where =< Captain Maxwell to Commander Wardropper please report to my ready room>=

[Sciences]

Matty was pottering around the Science Department meeting members of her new crew and staff, familiarising herself with the routine. Like every ship there were going to be little 'quirks' that while well within the rules, it was their prefered way of doing things, and while she was the CSO, unless a practice was dangerous, she knew it was far easier to 'go along with' than try to retrain!

When the call came thru from the Captain she chuckled to herself. Ah yes, she hadn't really spoken to the Captain yet. She wondered what he was like and her brilliant blue eyes sparkled.

==

She nodded to the Ensign she'd been chatting to excusing herself and made her way to the turbolift.

[Bridge>COs Ready Room]

Matty stood at the door to the ready room, made sure her hair was straight and tugged her uniform straight. First impressions could be important.

Erring on the side of politeness she pressed the door chime and waited for the Captain to call her in.


"Come In Commander" He knew who it was on the other side of the door straight away " I am sorry drag you away from what ever you were doing" He stood up and stretched out is hand " I am Captain Johnathon Maxwell, Commanding officer of this fine ship. Can I get you a drink?."

"English tea please, milk no sugar. Thank you, Captain." Matty took the proffered hand and shook it. "Most people if they are of rank and not stuttering over my last name tend to call me Matty rather than Matilda, off duty please feel free to do hte same. Otherwise I expect you'll be wanting to set an example to the lower ranks and follow protocol. Now, how can I help or was this just for a 'Hi, welcome to the Yukon' chat?! As for dragging me away, I was merely getting acquainted with the staff in Sciences and the department itself. All ships have their own quirks!"

Matty smiled, she rather liked the Captain already, he seemed to be someone that she'd be able to work with.

"Well commander its a little of both. I like to get to know my senior command team as Commander Vaughn is looking after the Department heads and junior officers. So that gives me time to chat with you." He passed Matty her tea. He had an old fashioned kettle and water machine installed in his ready room as he believed in the old way of making hot and decent drinks. " Commander you are enjoying the tea the good old fashioned way. Please tell me how you are finding the ship so far"


"Ah, a proper cup of tea like my Dad, gods rest his soul, used to make back on Earth!" Matty smiled. "Thank you Captain, I like the ship very much and I believe I shall enjoy working on her. The cadets under my care seem to be respectful, so it bodes well. So, tell me what are we currently off to do mission wise?"

With the question the commander had proposed to him he didn't actually now right now " Good question well presented commander but the correct response for that is forth coming."

He stood up and stretched his legs for a moment " What do you know about the Marquis" ? " I am asking this as its very important to our current assignment " He allowed the Commander time to get her head round the comment x

"I suppose as much as the next person, Captain. The Maquis are or were a rebellious organization of Federation-born colonists and discontented Starfleet officers who organized against the Cardassian occupation of their homes in the Demilitarized Zone after their colonies were ceded to the Cardassian Union by Federation Cardassian Treaties in the um... "

Matty considered for a moment guestimating the time period. "...late 2360s? early 2370s? Command considered members of the Maquis to be traitors, while Cardassia considered the Maquis to be terrorists."

She shrugged indicating she wasn't sure which side was right. "The Maquis considered themselves an independent nation and were going to formally declare their separation from the Federation, but these plans never materialized, because they were eventually defeated by one of Cardassia's prime allies, the Jem'Hadar. I suppose them to be wiped out, imprisoned or otherwise detained and non-functional. However, I'm a scientist. There could be pockets of them and their DNA in offspring anywhere."

End transmission. Maxwell returned the room to normal and headed out to his ready room.

Cahill enters Security and finds someone that she does not know, kinda hanging around. So she makes her presence known, but she is sure this Cat like individual knew she was there already.

"Ah hum mm!" As she clears her throat "can I help you with something?" Unable to see his or her rank from this angle.

"Hmm?" He said, spinning around. S'relli had never been on n Ambassador before. He assumed that he must've looked lost. "Yes, Lieutenant. This is the Security office?" He asked. Mostly to confirm his own suspicion.

(on)

Soon as the most of the staff got up to leave the ward room he stood up " Commanders Vaughn and Braxton would you mind staying behind." He waited till the last of the crew left. " Ok Commander Braxton now its just the three of us lets see what you have found out in the short time I have let you see the Padd". He turned to Commander Vaughn " Elizabeth the reason I handed this padd to our Security chief His previous assignment dealt with Mr Cairo. In a lack of judgement on my part and I am sorry for not bringing you into this sooner. But believe me for this mission I need you two work closer together if we are going to solve this current situation"

He motioned them both to set as this meeting was far from over " Ok I want a detail analysis from you Johnathon as you have had the time to look into this."

"First things first sir, Command and control. On a mission this sensitive we need to be sure of who is in charge of what. So I need to know, who is lead of this mission. Because in the field, command is absolute." Said Braxton making what he thought was a good point based on his experience as a field officer.

Lizzie took the seat as requested and listened to what the Captain and Braxton had to say. She nodded in understanding.

"Thank you Captain." She replied. "While I would have preferred to have been briefed ahead of the rest of the senior staff, I understand the time constraints."

She paused before turning to Braxton

"I apologise if you took offence Commander." She said. "I did not mean to question the information you have received but when it goes contrary to everything that I know about the Maquis, and I was included in some high level briefings regarding the fate of the surviving members including the members of Voyagers' crew. No mention has ever been made regarding surviving members who are still opposed to the Federation." She paused, taking a sip of water before continuing.

"If we proceed on the assumption that the information you have is correct Commander, then you would be the obvious choice to lead this mission. However it would be a mistake for me to accompany the team. Having two senior officers, who between them have more than enough command level information to cripple the fleet, going on a mission like this would be not only a bad idea, but probably break regs too." She replied.

"I am in agreement with you and I meant no harm or disrespect XO. It's just that the only info I had was on the pad and I gave that out already. But I will find fresh Intel for you as I too want to know what the heck is going on. This seems so out of the blue. I feel your concerns and they are mine as well." Replied Braxton calmly and professionally, as was the XO in his opinion.


Lizzie nodded and turned to the Captain.

"My recommendation for this mission is that Commander Braxton select and lead the field team. While I co-ordinate their response from the CNC. That way, we can use the dedicated channels to feed the team with up to the minute intelligence. We will also be able to extract them at short notice if necessary." She said.

"I agree. And thank you for your confidence in me. I will pick a team of three and we will find this mad man. When we reached the Badlands I suggest we take a shuttle that I will personally be working on until we arrive. With my knowledge of the area and what we have on file, I should be able to smoke him out. And taking a shuttle instead of the shipp makes sense." Said Braxton

He smiled at them both " Ok but I think we need to keep the information you two gather on the strictly need to know basis I want to keep a tight lid on details. I cant be to sure if this person is on this ship or what we cant take the chance of this person being one step ahead of us" He never accepted the way the universe kept throwing curve balls. Out dated values still raising there ugly heads again.

"I agree sir. Shall we get this show on the road?" Said Braxton


Maxwell agreed with the commanders take on the situation. " I am sorry Commander Vaughn and Wardropper but I have new orders for the both of you. Vaughn you will assume command of the USS Venture a Diligent class ship and Matty you are going back to head Star fleet academy. As we are not stopping we are sending you back in a shuttle."

Both the woman seemed a little miffed at the sudden change but Vaughn seemed more than happy to be leaving. He watched them leave and turning to Braxton." And on that note Mr Braxton I have news for you also you are being promoted to my first officer. But that means you are to depart CSO I have 2 new crew members joining and one is your placement."#

"Thanks for your confidence in me. I'll do the best I can." Said Braxton


Maxwell smiled " Its no more than you deserve Commander this may set you on the way to that captains chair. If there's nothing else we need to get the ship underway."

"No problem sir. I'll get us underway and report any changes in our plans." Replied Braxton

Braxton took his leave and headed for the bridge. "Open a channel ship wide." Ordered Braxton

"Done sir. Go ahead." Replied the Conn

+comm+"Attention crew of the Yukon. This is your first officer speaking. We will resume normal operations and get underway in a few minutes. There's been a few changes in the chain of command. Contact your department heads to see what those changes are and a few new crew as well. Make them feel welcome. The shit is at Blue status and we are resuming normal operations as of now. That is all!" Said Braxton

"Helm, resume previous course. Make notifications when needed. Carry on." And he sat back in the big chair waiting for the Captain and reviewing new crew member records and files.

End

Before Anjali realized what was happening, she was on her back and grunting with Shinto’s large frame on top of her. He smirked down at her and she frowned.

“Damn it to hell!”

He laughed before scooting back and extending a hand to help her to her feet. “That’s the thing,” Shinto Nakamura said. “You’re getting frustrated.”

“Wouldn’t you be?” She asked, backing away from him. “Again.”

“Enough for today. We can pick this up again tomorrow.”

Anjali sighed and dragged her sweaty palms against the highs of her track pants. She followed Shinto to the side and grabbed her towel. “There won’t be a tomorrow.”

“What?” He drank some water from his bottle and turned brown, contemplative eyes on her. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

“I’ve been reassigned.”

“Reassigned? When did you find this out?”

Anjali sighed. “This morning. I haven’t even had a chance to tell mother yet. It’s been a crazy day and I wanted to spend some time with you before I bring the mood down.”

He nodded. “I see. A base, a ship?”

“Ship—USS Yukon. They’re giving me CMO.”

Shinto looked disheartened. “Congratulations.” He turned from her and swiped his towel against the back of her neck.

“I wasn’t trying to hide it from you, Nak. I just—I didn’t want it to be having over our last bit of time together for a while, you know?”

He nodded and faced her. “I just got you back.”

Anjali said nothing. If she had, tears would topple down her cheeks and just make the whole damn situation worse. Instead, she tangled her arms about his neck, and pressed her face into his chest like she usually did when she thought the world was out to get her. Thankfully, he hugged her back.

When they finally separated, she smiled and cradled his cheeks. “I’m sorry we didn’t have more time, Nak. I’ve missed you every day I was away.”

He said nothing. Instead, he kissed her cheeks. “You know, when they were creating best friends, did no one think that one day we’d have to grow up and walk our own path?”

“Is this your way of breaking up with me?” she wrapped an arm around his hips as they left the gym in the basement of her new house. “I mean—if it is, you suck at it.”

He crinkled his nose at her and Anjali laughed. “Promise me, you’ll come back to me.”

“Of course I’ll come back. I hear my new captain is pretty nifty and he knows what he’s doing.”

“And please, do not try to tell him how to do his job,” Shinto said. “You have to behave.”

“Hey, if he becomes incompetent I will have to tell him so.” She turned her nose up. “My crew after all is important to me.”

Shinto laughed. “And record and send me a log every chance you get.”

“Yes father.”

He swatted her rump and she punched his shoulder.

Their friendship had been through a lot—breakups, deployments, space. Things that would have broken any other set of friends. Yet the two of them always managed to find their way back to each other.

“I’ll come back, Nak. You’ll see.”

“Can I come back tomorrow to say goodbye?”

“Hai. Anata to hanarete sabishiku narimasu.”

Shinto smiled. “I will miss you too, AJ.”

<<>>

Alone with only the thoughts in her head, Anjali stared up at the ceiling wondering if she could really be a Chief Medical Officer. Sure, she knew what she had to do—she knew her stuff—but there was something about having a chief and being one. The sickbay would become her domain. She would be responsible for all the goings-on there.

Was she truly ready? Starfleet Command seemed to think so. They had to or they wouldn’t have assigned her to the Yukon as their boss Doctor, would they?

Anjali muttered under her breath and rolled to her side.

Telling her mother hadn’t gone over well. It had been no secret Anassa hadn’t wanted her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Though she had yet to explain why, Anjali figured it had something to do with her father. Ever since she was old enough to reason, she always wondered why she didn’t have a dad like other children. Her mother never once wanted to talk about it.

She shrugged and sat up.

Anassa was incredulous at the news. She’d been working as a doctor for years and still her mother got furious whenever Anjali was to leave earth for a vessel or base. But she couldn’t live her life based on her mother’s fears. Hell, if she did that she’d never leave the dang house.

Moving to Tokyo for university almost gave her mother a stroke. But, she’d gone and graduated with honours. Anassa had been proud, but almost passed out when Anjali barged into her mother’s office mere weeks later to announce that she’d applied for Starfleet.

Anassa wanted Anjali to remain on earth, start her very own practice, find some man and marry. While Anjali wanted that, she would never be satisfied with just any man.

She needed one who would see her for who she is, love her for all her nerdyness and give her space when she needed it. That was another thing that she didn’t really understand—dating.

“Ugh...”

Hauling her body from the bed, she stripped down, tied her hair up and walked into the shower. Rather than using the voice command, Anjali started the shower manually. While she hadn’t wanted to get her hair wet, she remembered she’d spent most of the morning wrestling with Shinto. The last thing she wanted was to have funky hair as she tried boarding the Yukon the next day.


Lt. Anjali “AJ” Foster
Chief Medical Officer
USS Yukon

Anjali sashayed around sickbay, humming to herself. It'd been a few minutes and it was too quiet. She sighed. "Computer..."

It chirped at her.

"Play--Shinhwa."

"Please specify which song."

Anjali groaned. "Um..." How was she supposed to pick? For a moment, she paused. "Sniper."

She didn't move until after the intro. She danced around, trying to move things into the position she thought they would best fit the place and make the space run a little more efficiently. In her office, she sang the Korean song softly, while lifting a box of things to her desk. The first thing she unpacked was a picture of her and Shinto. He carried her on his back while she covered his eyes. Anjali remembered that day - They had left the university's campus and wandered into downtown Tokyo. They ate food from street vendors, gouged on ice-cream then spent the evening in a local park, on their backs with cherry blossoms kissing their cheeks.

The song ended and she asked the computer to play "Touch" by the same band. This song was softer, sexier. She always did like those tunes best.

Maxwell was sat in his office when he realised that a Medical appointment popped up with the new chief medical officer "Ah great the one thing I hate more than meetings with admirals". He sighed " Computer please accept appointment and notify the medical officer I am on my way" As he walked down to the Medical bay he was heard by others cursing. They looked at him oddly. He walked into sick bay to see that it was already pretty busy.

"Excuse me nurse is the Chief Medical Officer available?. I am here for my medical" She smiled as she was pretty aware that the captain would rather be any else than here " Sir she is in her office". He thanked her and walked over to where she was situated " Excuse me Lieutenant I am here for my medical, I am Captain Maxwell", He waited till she was finished with what ever she was currently doing.

Anjali whirled around sending the flower pot she'd been holding flying toward the captain. "Oh! Heads up!" she shouted. "Computer end music!" Anjali then covered eyes, waiting for the crash.

Maxwell tried not to laugh at the Medical officers misfortune he quickly stepped to the left of the incoming object " Some way to meet your Commanding Officer sending a flower pot in my direction" He bent down and picked the offending object up and put it on the desk. He showed her that he wasn't annoyed and that he found it funny. "Ok I suspect we should get on with the medical" He sat down " Oh I am sorry we have not been introduced before."

Her cheeks heated. "Sorry. I get lost in my music sometimes. And you kind of snuck up on me. Um... Dr. Anjali Foster, Chief Medical Officer and--" She motioned to the flower pot on the desk. "--pitcher, extraordinaire."

He was kind of lost in thought the chief medical officer was beautiful and when she spoke it shook him out if the day dream " Its a pleasure to meet you. I think." He smiled at the Dr " Look I am sorry for sneaking up on you and I guess I deserved that. How are you finding the Yukon so far. She is not be the most modern ship in the fleet but she has all the gusto of a sovereign class ship."

"She's the little ship that could." Anjali crinkled her nose at him before bringing her eyes back to the tricorder. "Hrm...we should probably change your diet."

That sentence ripped through him but he knew it was coming " Ok I guess I had that coming Dr but prey tell me why is there something wrong? I Know I am not the most athletic Commanding officer. I am may drink one to many cups of coffee but I am sure that's a captain thing. But I consider my self fairly active." He did wonder if there was something more.

"Your blood pressure is a bit high," she told him, offering a smile. "Nothing to really freak out about, Captain. But I would rather it be normal, if you understand my meaning. For now, I would recommend you remain active, limit your intake of sodium and alcohol..."

Salt he couldn't live without as the replicator food was not that great at the best of times. As for Alcohol he wasn't a drinker. "Ok I promise that I will try to take less sodium but I will say I don't drink coffee is my only vice are you asking me to curtail that as well?" He laughed. "If that's the case you will find that the captain will turn cranky real quick."

"I'm a big girl," Anajali flipped her tricorder closed and set it on her desk. "I think I can handle a big baby." She chewed her bottom lip. She contemplated whether or not to apologize. Shinto's words about her behaving rang through her head and she frowned. Still, she decided not to say anything to her previous statement. "Um...no. As long as you don't overdo it on the caffeine. We will revisit your blood pressure again in a few weeks. Exercise helps as well. You'd be surprise how much small changes can help."

He smiled and took her advice "Ok Dr I understand and I will visit the ships gym for some exercise and I would say its a pleasure to meet you. When you have time please feel free to drop by my office and lets do the greetings properly". Getting up of the bio bed he sorted himself out. "Doctor I take my leave now".

Anjali watched him go then covered her face with a hand. She hadn't even been on board a week and already she'd managed to throw a flower pot at her Captain and all but told him he was fat.

So much for behaving...

End

Captain Johnathon Maxwell
Commanding Officer

&

Lt. Anjali "AJ" Foster
Chief Medical Officer

Corridor near Sick Bay:

J. Braxton, the ships XO was making the rounds of the ship when he looked at his pad and realised that he had not welcomed or even spoke to the new CMO. Now was as good a time as any, so he stopped made a left facing movement and tapped the sick bay door to enter. As the doors opened he could see nurses and orderlies going about their business. He stopped just inside the entrance and cleared his throat.

"Ah, hum!" came the sound from his throat meaning hey guys I'm over here. But no one seemed to care. So he took another step further into sickbay and called out for the CMO.

"Is there a Doctor in the house?" and that seemed to have worked a treat.

It's taken some doing, but Anjali had managed to get her office set up just as she wanted it. After almost taking out the Captain with a flower pot, there were no end of disruptions as she tried to move things around perfectly. But soon, as she stood back and stared at the get-up, she had to admit, it was perfect. Humming to herself, she grabbed her ever present PADD and made her way out into the main area. She stopped to chat with a couple of nurses, to check a diagnosis of a new cadet who seemed terribly nervous then almost bawled over a man asking if there was a doctor in the house.

Anjali clicked her teeth. "My apologies, Commander. I'm Doctor Foster, what seem to be your medical emergency?"

J. Braxton smiled at the very attractive woman. "Actually I was just coming down to see what all the fuss was about, I mean let me rephrase that. Introduce myself since I missed your arrival." And he clicked his heels together as if he were in the Third Reich and stuck out his hand. Which was a bit strange for a man of color, but there you have it! "I'm your Executive office. Cmdr. Jonathan Braxton, at your service."

"Um..." Anjali glanced around to see if people were staring and found it as strange as she did. But it seemed no one really cared. "Er..." She accepted his hand in a shake. "Nice to meet you, Commander. My arrival wasn't one of fanfare, I assure you. I prefer it that way."

Without missing a beat; "nonsense, I'll have none of it. You are the CMO and you should have been greeted by my office upon your arrival. So if you're not too busy, I'll conduct my new comers interview now!" Stated The XO.

"Of course." She motioned toward her office before walking ahead of the commander. She took a seat and motioned to the free chair. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you Doctor. An instructor of mine once told me that life is but a fleeting shadow, a poor player who struts his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It took me ages to realize he was quoting Shakespeare. And that of course made me think. Then he explained to me that a ship has two masters. The Captain and The Doctor. As the XO I find that I am merely the third wheel, even though I'm the Captains right hand, which makes you the Captains heart and Soul. What I'm trying to say is, I realize your importance and will back you and support you. Because a healthy crew survives, and an unhealthy crew does not!" Said the XO. "So tell me is there anything I can help you with immediately?" He asked, crossed his legs and gave he his undivided attention.

"Well, not at the moment," she said. "I've managed to get my office the way I need it so it can be very efficient for my work. And I'm all moved in and ready to go. Wait--how handy are you, Commander?"

"Well that depends on what you need doing?" He laughed "But I'm willing to do whatever to help out." Said Braxton realizing that he had just lost control of the conversation, but to a prettier woman, he could not have hoped for better.

"I have these bookcases." She made a motion with her hands. "There are two of them, not really large. My best friend was the one who originally put them together and since I am no good with that sort of thing--I was hoping you could help?"

He stood there shaking his head back and forth as she spoke. "Um, I don't think I'd be very good at that. So let me finish this welcome aboard talk and I will send two kids from engineering to help with that. So, how you finding everything?" He asked sheepishly

"That would be great. Well..." She looked around. "Aside from almost giving our Captain a concussion? Everything is great."

He looked puzzled, but decided to let it go. If the Captain wanted him to know what had taken place, he would let him know, but he did smirk, as it was just a bit funny. "I'm sure you made quite an impression on him." laughed Braxton "Look Doc. I'm sure you have plenty to do, so I will keep you no longer. But you must come to the Captains Mess this evening. And if for any reason you can't make it, send your 2IC in your place. I'll be sure to send those engineers up to fix your book cases. Now do you have any questions for me that you would not like to bring up over dinner?" asked Braxton

Anjali chewed on the inside of her mouth. She was just going to skip dinner and have some food in her quarters. Maybe replicate some Utta Berry Crepes while finishing War and Peace. She'd been trying to get through that book for months. Most of it was just dry... "Um-I will get back to you on that."

"Sounds good. Well its been nice meeting you. We shall talk again soon." and he stood up to leave.

She bowed her head slightly. "Nice meeting you too, Commander."

Braxton smiled and headed for the door.

End

"You knew I had to go back," Sebastiene whispered, staring down at the framed picture of his late husband. He honestly thought he would have more time with Drew and their son. It had been a year since Drew's death and while Sebastiene understood why it happened--he wasn't entirely sure he got how. Drew was a great man, amazing captain and he always put his crew first. Their safety was of utmost importance when away. But how did it all come about that they were in that part of space?

"Appa--I can't find my ball," Sol Holdings' voice carried from behind him softly.

Sebastiene sniffed, dropped the frame into the bag and zipped it up. Once he was sure he had it together, he turned to his son, "Um--well..." He hunched down before the little blue boy. "Where did you last have it?"

"In the front yard."

"Have you checked the porch?"

The antennae on his head wiggled. "Good idea!" He perked up and darted out the door.

Sebastiene smiled, rose and gripped the handle for his bag. The plan wasn't that he'd be a single father. They'd talked long and hard about adopting a child. Sebastiene wanted this child with Drew. They fell in love with little Sol the moment they saw him and things were great. Drew was an attentive father and Sebastiene even took a hiatus off working to be on board Drew's vessel with him. It was nice to drop Sol off to classes, then wander the ship. There was always something to do. From to time he'd venture into sickbay to help out other times he'd fill in for the counselor--unofficially of course--often he was able to sneak Drew away for some alone time in the holodeck or just a quiet lunch together. At the end of the day, Drew would come home to him.

But, they both agreed Sol needed some time off a vessel. And that was when everything went wrong.

"You were supposed to come home to me, Drew. You promised."

"Appa!"

"Yes, Sunny?"

"It's not on the porch."

Sebastiene ventured over to the window, shoved it open and poked his head out. He glanced around. "Check the back."

Sol nodded and took off running as fast as his little feet would carry him. That ball was important. Drew had given it to him.

With a sigh, Sebastiene drew his head in and locked the window. Everything else had been secured. The furniture were covered, the security system activated but was on pause and Drew's old fashion Ferrari Dino was in storage. He loved the thing and wanted to show Sol how to drive it and work on its engine once he was old enough. That was something Drew wished to pass down to their son, a skill that had gone extinct in the rest of the world but a little something that Sol would have to make him feel that much more special.

"I found it!" Sol hollered, thundering through the house.

"Sunny! Stop that yelling," Sebastiene chided.

"Sorry, Appa!"

Sebastiene grinned as he stepped through the door and Sol's small body collided with his. He picked Sol up and carried him--and the soccer ball--out the front door.

"You ready?" Sebastiene asked.

Sol nodded. "Laissez les bons temps rouler!"

"Okay," Sebastiene smiled as his voice cracked. In that moment he couldn't help pressing a kiss to Sol's forehead. "Let the good times roll."

Something Drew would say--the first bit of creole French he'd taught little Sol, to Sebastiene's horror.


Lt. Sebastiene "ET" Bordeaux-Holdings
Chief Counselor
USS Yukon

Finally getting to unpacking his gear, a task that had been put off since his recent beam over S'relli was relaxed. He had the nagging thought that he was forgetting something. Unable to remember at present he just kept on with getting settled, playing an caitian folksong in his head. Then he momentarily lost his balance by his replicator so that he had to brace himself against a nearby table. The corner poked him in the abdomen. "Of course!" he remembered.You should really write this stuff down he thought to himself, using an old earth expression he picked up on the Nautilus.

He left his quarters and went into a turbolift. "Deck seven." he ordered. Not long after he was in sickbay where he spotted a nurse. "Excuse me, but is the CMO in at the moment?"

"Doctor? There's someone here to see you!"

Anjali turned and was forced to step back and look up. "Commander," she offered a smile. "Sorry about the whole poking thing."

"Don't worry about it."S'relli replied. "in a way that's why I'm here" he smiled. "Duty physical I mean."

She giggled. "I'm not bad, am I?"

"I don't think so." he chuckled back.

"Good." Anjali patted his shoulder. "Come and have a seat. I'll give you the once over. Tell me, what can a girl do around here for fun?"

"I've only just transferred in myself" S'relli replied, hoisting himself atop the biobed. "I know there's a recreation area on deck 15." he offered.

"Hrm." She sat on one of the stools and with a tricorder in hand, she wheeled herself before him. "So, out of curiosity--do you get strange looks when you walk around the ship? I mean, you are super tall."

"Not that tall. My brothers are taller than I am." he laughed. "But in answer, some. But few and far between."

"And I'm the weirdo who just had to jab you with my finger." She sighed and slipped the tricorder to the bed beside him. "Listen, I'm not usually this strange, I promise. You surprised me, that's all. I wasn't given much turn around time between the time I got my order and my departure for the Yukon so I didn't get a moment to browse the roster. Anyway, I would feel a lot better if you allowed me to clear the air."

S'relli was all for that. Any chance to get to know anyone was welcome. "Anything you want to know, feel free." he said

"At some point, Commander, I'll ask you to dinner. Just let me know when you're free. And I swear...." she lifted her right hand. "I won't be as weird."

"That sounds fine to me!" he said.

She beamed at him. "Perfect. Whenever you say the word, I will make it possible. You, Commander, are clear for duty."

S'relli beamed as well. "Thanks a lot!" he said. He pointed at his commbadge. "I'll get back to you as soon as I can." he smiled.

Anjali nodded. "See you."

"See you." S'relli agreed.

Lt. Anjali "AJ" Foster
Chief Medical Officer
USS Yukon

&

LtCmdr S'relli
Chief Security/ Tactical Officer & Second Officer
USS Yukon

It was no secret that little Sol had a fear of doctors. But, Sebastiene knew that to be a part of the ship they were both required to check in with the CMO. He sighed and after and hour of talking to his son, they walked through the doors of sickbay. Thankfully, things was quiet and a lone woman sat in the CMO's office, with a--book. That made him smile. He rarely saw those anymore. Sure, he and Drew had a whole library with mostly the classics like Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe and the like.

At the door, he cleared his throat and her book went flying. Sol ran over and picked it up. "My apologies for startling you, ma cherie." Sebastian said. "But we are here for our check up."

She smiled. "Sorry. I get lost in the pages."

"A Chris-christ-mas ca-rol," Sol sounded out the words. "A Christmas Carol!"

"Very good Sunny." Sebastian beamed. "Doctor. I'm Lt Sebastiene Bordeaux-Holdings. This is my son, Sol."

"My Appa calls me Sunny," The little boy said, looking up at her.

She hunched down close to Sol and extended a hand. Sol glanced over at Sebastiene before shaking it.

"It's nice to meet you, Sol. I'm Doctor Anjali Foster..." She leaned in with a grin. "But you call me AJ."

Sol giggled. "Hi, AJ."

Sebastiene knew what that meant. Sol was already in love with the good doctor. He chuckled.

"Lt. Bordeaux-Holdings--you are our counselor," Anjali said, rising to pick up a padd.

"I am. And I understand my name can be a bit of a mouthful. You can call me, ET."

Anjali grinned. "When off duty, of course."

He bowed his head. "Of course."

"You aren't what I expected." Anjali walked around him.

"Oh?" Sebastiene took Sol's hand and followed the good doctor toward a bio bed. "And what exactly were you expecting?"

"I'm not sure. But you're more like Thor."

Sebastiene laughed as he lifted Sol to the bed. "I have yet to get the Thor description. But I am always the unexpected. I don't mind at all." Sol tugged at Sebastiene's uniform and he leaned in to hear what his son had to say.

"Appa--she's very pretty."

"I know." Sebastiene whispered back.

Anjali inspected Sol first and cleared him. She then gave him a sucker. She watched as he asked his father's permission first. The two interacted in French and soon the little boy had the candy in his mouth and was sitting in her office and twirling on her chair. She smiled and turned her attention to Sebastiene.

"He is a lovely little one," she said.

"Yes. We are quite proud of him."

"I detect an accent," Anjali kept her eyes on the monitor. "Let me guess...New Orleans."

Sebastiene nodded. "That's right."

"I had a friend who moved there after he got married," Anjali said. "But he passed away about a year ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks. He was good people. I was stuck on board a ship and missed his funeral. I only hope he understands."

"I'm sure he would. You know, between you and I, my son thinks you're very pretty."

Anjali blushed. "And very old, I'm guessing."

"No. Just pretty."

"Don't worry, Lt. You have nothing to worry about. He will grow out of it."

Sebastiene laughed out loud. "I don't know. He seems very sure of himself these days."

"Well, not to worry Mr. I will have your son home at a decent hour."

Sebastiene smirked. It was rare to find people who would have played along with that. Perhaps Sol was right with his assessment of the good doctor--perhaps she was a good sort.

"Well, welcome aboard the Yukon, by the way," her voice interrupted his analysis. "I'm new myself."

"Any words of wisdom?" Sebastiene asked. "You already know the lay of the land."

She grinned. "Let's see here. Avoid throwing flower pots at the Captain."

"Oh...wait...what?" he asked. "Is that some sort of Risan mating ritual I know nothing about?"

Her cheeks heated. The captain was a good looking man but as far as she knew he was with someone. Anjali cleared her throat to cover her silence then shook her head. "Long story there. The XO isn't very handy. And whatever you do, do not poke the cat."

"Um..." Sebastiene arched a brow. "Cat?"

"You'll see."

Sebastiene frowned. That sounded like something Stephen King would write. When she declared him fit for duty, he rose from the bio bed and adjusted his uniform.

"I will come and see you the moment you're settled," Anjali informed him. "I know I am due for my psychological."

"Thank you. Most often than not, I have to chase people around. It will be refreshing to not have to."

She smirked. "Well, I can't speak for the rest of the crew but I prefer to get these things done and out of the way. The captain--well, the last time he saw a doctor she all but told him he was fat..."

"You didn't!" Sebastiene laughed.

"I didn't mean to. It was a bad day, okay?" She flushed. "But I intend to make it up to him...somehow."

Sebastiene grinned. "I don't know how you will do that. That's a hard thing to come back from."

"Oh, you're mean." Anjali smacked his arm.

But Sebastian couldn't stop laughing, even as he called for Sol.

"Aww Appa, do we really have go?" Sol asked.

"Yes, Sunny. We must let Dr. Foster get back to her work," Sebastiene took his hand.

"Okay. Thanks for the candy, AJ," Sol said.

"You know something, Sunny? You are most welcome." Anjali told him softly. "And Lt. If you ever need a babysitter..."

"Be careful what you wish for, AJ," Sebastiene said. "I just may take you up on that."

She nodded.

With a final nod of his head, he walked Sol out of Sickbay. "Hungry?"

"Yes, please!" Sol exclaimed.


Lt. Anjali "AJ" Foster
CMO
USS Yukon

&

Lt. Sebastien "ET" Bordeaux-Holdings
Chief Counselor
USS Yukon

The young ensign had a handful of years encapsulated in the single rank pip that adorned his uniform collar. His academy years were several years behind him now and he knew his position aboard the USS Yukon. He had studied her schematics thoroughly before reporting to duty and had familiarized himself with her upgraded and refitted systems. The old Ambassador class starship was still 'sailing' through the starry sea of space after all these years. The USS Yukon was a distinguished vessel with a history beneath her thick reinforced hulls. Ensign Sika was a skillful strategist. He had to be in order to pull everything off. It had been important during his academy years to fly under the radar initially, and then make great strides to garner the right amount attention to propel him closer to getting the posting he not just wanted, but needed.

However, he could only permit himself enough attention to gain this assignment. For every step outside of the shadows and into the light, he needed to take a few steps back or aside. This meant that he needed to get this somewhat prestigious posting and yet keep himself limited so that he would not draw unwanted attention to himself. He did not want to climb the ranks too far too fast. Staying an ensign meant an ease of getting around unnoticed. Achieving the position of a division leader such as he now was aboard the USS Yukon as head of the stellar sciences division as Astrometrics Officer meant he would not arose suspicion as he continued his investigation and searched the Yukon thoroughly. He felt as though he was getting closer.

The Yukon would be departing soon. It was only a matter of time before the essential crew compliment was filled and all the refitting and upgrades were done. He needed more time though. He needed to throw some sort of wrench into the departure plans even if it only bought him a few extra hours. Ensign Sika began to input several commands at the primary astrometrics station. It began pulling more power to astrometrics from auxiliary reserves. Too much power pulled and astrometrics was going to be in for some trouble let alone a quarter or potentially even half the deck.

Now, an Intrepid class starship or Luna class could handle the stressful demands that Ensign Sika was placing upon the Yukon. Bio-neural circuitry could process vast amounts information at incredible speeds compared to older isolinear circuitry. The problem was older starships especially larger classes like the Ambassador class or Galaxy class starship were not able to handle Bio-neural circuitry very easily. It was often best that the starships remained on isolinear circuitry with some upgrades, patches, and work around methods put into place.

It was a somewhat careless 'mistake' but one that would be expected of the newer generation of Starfleet's finest. Those coming out of the academy so used to the bio-neural technology on a wide variety of starships since the 2370s. In a matter of a few minutes, the lighting in atrometrics flickered until everything was pitch blackness. His communications badge went off only seconds later. "Sika here" he replied as a crewmen from operations checked in about a power issue on that deck. Once the comm channel was terminated, there was some noise coming from the corridor.

"Hello" Sika called out. "Hello, I'm in the Astrometrics Lab. It's dark and I cannot see anything...I think emergency power was knocked out too" he said to whomever was on the other side. Basically, the doors were not going to budge without a manual release. His little stunt trapped him in Astrometrics.

S'relli was getting his bearings on the ship when he saw the lights dim. He just wrote it off as the character of an older ship. that was until he heard a voice coming from a door semi closed to him.

"I hear you." S'relli said, running up to the door. Good thing I was taking a walk he thought as he got there. He was tempted to tap his commbadge but that was pointless seing as he could talk through the door. "I'm opening the panel now." S'relli was rather limited in his engineering knowledge but he was fairly confident that he could at least crack the door open

“I am sorry to make you do this in the dark” replied Sika from the other side. “I was trying to be productive, but I made an error along the way and well, I think I am probably to blame for the power outage” he said to the man as he waited for the door to open.

"No worries." S'relli said. Good thing for our night vision S'relli thought. He exposed the panel and started to adjust the isolinear chips in a process of "trial and error" until the door was at least cracked. "Can you see anything? I've cracked the door."

Sika breathed a sigh of relief as the door opened a crack. "Yes! Yes, Sir. The door is opened just a bit, but I thing it is enough that we can pry it open" he said. "Maybe there is something in here that I can use..." he said as he began to think and feel around. "I think I found something" he proclaimed. A few moments later, the doorway was open and Sika could escape out in the corridor and thank his 'savior' who happened to be the Security Chief.

Braxton was reviewing the duty roster when he saw a name that struck him as strange. Kejal. He had not met this crew member and wondered why. So he put his pad down and excused himself from the bridge. As he made his way to Astrometric's, he paused for only a second before entering the amazing room with its huge screen and very different out look on the Galaxy.

The doors popped open and he stepped in.

"Ensign Kejal?" he asked of the huge male Bajoran that stood before him.

After the recent incident that occured where he had triggered a bit of a power outage on at least one (if not more) deck, the Ensign was expecting someone to come see him be it the head of his Department or the Executive Officer. It seemed to be the latter. Here we go he thought taking a deep breath as he turned to give the man his full attention. "Commander, Sir" he said adressing the man by rank and showing the utmost respect for the commander's authority.

He eased his way into making the correction. "Sika" he said firmly but without disrespect. "I do not know how my records have it. Sometimes, when you are Bajoran things get a little jumbled with the personnel departments" he added with a nod. "Sika is my family name. Kejal is my first name" he explained. "If you are here about the power outage a while ago...oops is all I can say other than I am sorry. I got a little too eager and made a bit of an oversight with capatability, Sir."

Braxton observed and paid attention to the name thing. Though the outage had not reached him yet, he was grateful for the update.

"Rest easy Ensign, I'm not here for that. I'm here to welcome you aboard. As the XO, I make it my business to meet every member of the crew. It's been a long time since I visited Bajor. Has it changed much in the last ten years?" Asked Braxton

Sika looked at the man with a bit of relief. He was glad that he wasn’t going to be reprimanded for the power outage at least not yet. “The war changed a lot of things as Bajor went into a period of reconstruction. A Bajor for Bajorans, my people seem to be finding themselves. In the past decade Sir? I would say a fair bit has changed, yet Bajor is still of the Bajora. The majority of my people hold strongly onto their faith in the prophets even with science and technology right there” he said crossing his arms and letting out a bit of a sigh.

Braxton paced a little before asking his next question. "What of the previous Emissary! Has anything been mentioned about the Sisko. How do your people see his role in its future and his religious status?"

The Ensign clentched his fists and wanted to strike the man across the jaw, but he maintained his position and relaxed his muscles from their tense state of agitation. He took a deep breath. "Benjamin Lafayette Sisko was a good man and a fine Starfleet Captain. His actions during the Dominion War were admirable and he deserves honor and respect, but 'The Emissary' he was not, is not, nor will he or anyone ever be" said the young man strongly. "As far as I am concerned at least. My homeworld has no damn right to associate itself with the Federation less become part of it" added Sika.

"Noted. And yet here you are." Braxton turned to look directly at the Ensign. "I've looked over your records. Very interesting that you should be in the position that you are in and feel the way you do, but that's fine. As long as you do your job, no one else need know how you feel about Bajor and its relationship with the Federation." Braxton took a step in his direction. "As for the power outage incident you mentioned, I'll expect a full report on my desk in the morning." Braxton then walked past the Ensign without saying anything else. Sisko was in Braxton's eyes a Hero. He had done something that no one in Star Fleet history had ever done. The ensign had put a bitter taste in his mouth, whether on purpose or not. Braxton needed to distance himself from the young man. But he stopped just short of the exit and paused. "Bajor and its people are very special. I hold a special place in my heart for you and your people, which is why I came to see you, instead of ordering you to report to me. So going forward, show me how special you are. All I ask is that you do the best job you can whilst under this command. Have a good shift Ensign, long live Bajor!" And he turned again and walked from the room.

Braxton was not sure if he just made a friend or and enemy, or was that too strong a world to use. But the young ensigns feelings on the Federation were unmistakable. This was someone who deserved keeping an eye on.

Ensign Sika was baffled and dumbfounded. The conversation with the XO went from one point to another and got rather personal unintentionally on Sika's part. He was not really sure if the Commander understood him nor was Sika sure that he understood the First Officer. What the hell just happened? thought the science officer. He did not want the First Officer to see him as being some sort of radical Bajoran nationalist, but the way that the Commander spoke it was unsettling. Long live Bajor? those words were disturbing.

Executive Officers Ready room/Broom closet:

There was only room in this small office for a desk and a replicator. So Braxton made the most of it. He knew he could use the senior staff briefing room or the Captains ready room, but this was a cozy space and he liked it.

He reached up and tapped his comm badge:

+comm+"This is the XO, could the following personnel meet me in my office as soon as possible? S'relli, Devlin and Foster. Thank you that is all." so now all he had to do was wait.

Anjali was in the process of digging through the boxes with her boy,oks when the call came through. She sighed and looked down at the heap, wondering when, if ever, she would get to unpack them. It pained her heart having them cooped up like that. With a heavy sigh, she rose and hurried over to the dresser. There, she brushed her hair up and pinned it into a tight ponytail then wrapped the ends around and pinned them down. Once she was satisfied, she shoved her arms into her uniform top, tucked in the ends and marveled over the new pip against her neck making her a Lt.

"Who would have thunk-it?" She grinned. She stopped to give herself a cursory glance to ensure everything was in place before grabbing her PADD and dipping out the doors for the XO's office.

When she finally stepped into sensor range, she inhaled as the doors slid open and she stepped forward. "Reporting for duty, Commander."

"It's good to see you again Doctor. After our intitial meeting, I thought .....well let's just say, I've been thinking about a few changes I'd like to run by you. We can start now or wait until the others arrive, it's up to you." Replied Braxton.

Anjali chewed on her bottom lip. "Changes." She cocked her head to the side and glanced around. "Would one be this office? I already feel claustrophobic and it's just the two of us--sir."

"You know what, you are right. We should move to the senior staff briefing room. Four people in here would be a bit cramped. Follow me!" And he stood up moved past her, inadvertently making slight contact with her shoulder as he passed and walked from the room with her in tow. He spoke over his shoulder. "I was thinking that we need a counselor, so why not move the Lt. Cmdr to that spot until someone more qualified comes aboard? What do you think?" He asked as they slowly meandered through the corridor.

"Well, I am not entirely certain who you are referring to, sir," Anjali said. "I haven't had a chance to really meet anyone as yet. Aside from yourself and the Captain, that is." She blushed as she remembered her first meeting with the Captain. She really should apologize to him again. With that mental note, she folded her arms behind her back and caught up to the commander.

"The person of which I speak is your assist Chief Medical officer." Replied Braxton

"I see." Anjali remained silent for a breath. "I am not certain I am the best person to speak with about this. I have yet to meet the commander. But I could speak with her and tell you what I think from that initial meeting. But, keep in mind that would only be a cursory evaluation--an analysis if you will."

"See this is the beauty of you being the CMO. No one on the entire ship, including the Captain can confuse their rank with your authority, so yes. You are the perfect person to speak to on this subject." And he smiled at her.

S'relli had exited the turbolift and made a beeline towards the XO's office. Upon arrival in the corridor he saw two officers chatting. One in command read, one in medical teal. Must be the right place he thought. The last thing he wanted was to interrupt, but orders were orders. "Excuse me." he said as he walked up. "Lieutenant Commander S'irelli sir." he said to the senior of the two officers.

Anjali offered the newcomer a curt nod. But she couldn't keep her brows from creasing. To see his face she had to tilt her neck back because of his height. There was something about a six foot cat on board a starship that seemed strange to her. Just in case, she poked him with a finger.

S'relli just looked down at the medical officer with a puzzled look. He shrugged it off, being the mellow guy he was. "I'm real if that's what you're checking." He chuckled.

"Oh!" Anjali's cheeks heated. "Um--sorry. I've never met...I mean...You're very...I made it weird, didn't I?"

"It's all good." S'relli replied with a smile.

Oh lord. How many people will I need to say sorry to by the end of the dang day?

"I would not worry about it, it will pass in time as people get used to the idea of being around a life sized cat, that on earth we frankly would welcome upon our lap and pet." replied Braxton "But don't worry, I don't think anyone is going to try and pet you. On earth we used to say, I wonder what that cat is thinking. And most people would say, that cat is thinking, I wish I was 200 pounds bigger, I would eat that human. ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed Braxton "Not trying to give you any ideas though." as he chuckled again

S'relli couldn't help but laugh as well. He nodded as he did. "I totally get it, sir." he said. This was a new one on him he had to admit and all he could do was just really smile. "Don't worry, everybody's safe. Deep down I'm a pussycat anyway." he laughed.

Anjali arched a brow at the two of them but said nothing. They were still waiting for one more--or two? She craned her neck toward the doors before settling back.

"That's good to know." remarked Braxton as he looked to see what the doctor was looking for. "Look there's three of us here. So let's go inside and get started." ordered the XO

S'relli nodded

The three of them entered the senior staff briefing room. "Everybody get yourself a drink and hopefully the other MIA officer will show up soon." said Braxton.

"Perhaps we should let her know where we are?" Anjali said, bypassing the drink suggestion and taking a seat. "We did switch rooms."

Braxton tapped his comm badge; +comm+"Lt Devlin this is Cmdr Braxton, please meet us in the senior briefing room." ordered Braxton

+comm+"sir this is yeoman Smith. Devlin is on temp reassignment until further notice." Came the reply

+comm+"Thanks for telling me. Braxton out." Then he frowned

"Well that solves one problem, if I'm lucky we will get a counselor on board soon. In he meantime, doc why don't you and our resident cool cat here get familiar with each other since he is a crew member I want you up to speed on his anatomy, just in case. As for other business, as long as you are here, ask any questions that you might have."

"I can assure you I am more than up to speed on Caitian anatomy." She glanced over at Lt. S'relli. Sure, he was taller than most Caitian she'd ever met but that was about it. "Don't worry, Lt. If anything happens, I have your back." She crinkled her nose at him with a smile.

"Good, now that we have that out of the way, a temp counselor until we get one. Any ideas?" He asked.

"Again - I may not be the person to be speaking to about this." Anjali said. "I'm pretty sure the admiral responsible could find us someone suitable. Have you asked him? .... Or her?"

Just then there was a beep. It was the xo's pad. The message read, that a counselor had been assigned to the crew. "Well somebody is on the ball at fleet, because the reason I called this little gathering is no longer valid. We have a counselor now assigned!" Remarked Braxton.

"That is good news," Anjali grinned. "I think it makes for a good balance whenever a ship has all its man medical staff position filled. A doctor may be able to heal the body with the help of his or her tools but the mind is a completely different animal all together."


"I am inclined to agree with you Doctor Foster. So unless there are any questions or anything I can do for you two. I guess that's a wrap?" Said Braxton as he waited to see if everyone was done.

"I'm good," she replied. "I need more time on board before I can truly give any kind of analysis on much of anything, to be honest."

Braxton was happy with the outcome of the meeting! He saw how his officers enter acted and with that he was happy.

End of log

With Sol off wandering the ship, to his horror, Sebastiene was free to get a few things done. The first was his office. Though he didn't unpack all the boxes to make the space feel welcoming, his back was beginning to bother him so he decided to call it a day. He checked his son's location on his padd and noticed Sol was in the mess hall, no doubt eating french fries. Instead of joining Sol, he decided to check in with the first officer instead.

Braxton sat reading the roster of new people that had final made there way to the Yukon. "We finally have a Counselor. I must make it a point to seek him out and welcome him." Said Braxton out loud to no one in particular. Then he thought to himself, if I keep that up I'll need a session with a counselor." Then he chuckled, little did he know he was about to have a visitor.

Once he stepped into the sensor range for the door, it swung open revealing a rather small room. Sebastiene remembered then why he hated ships-confined space. "Lt. Sebastiene Bordeaux-Holdings, reporting for duty, Commander."

Braxton looked up. "Ah ha, yes come in. I was just talking.....I mean reading about you." And he made a face, then lightly dropped the padd with his records on it on his small desk. "Welcome Counselor, how are you finding everything?" Asked Braxton

"So far so good," Sebastiene said. "My son is getting a kick out of the whole living on a ship deal, and he's happy. That's the best a father can wish for."

"You have a very good point there, and I promise you, that unless we absolutely have to, I won't put this ship in any more danger than it needs to be. I say that based on all the civilians on board. But you know we are a ship of exploration and there will come a time when things get sticky out here in space." Said Braxton

"Understandable." Sebastiene said, wondering why he would even say that. It was nerve-wracking enough having to make the decision to pick Sunny up and move him to a ship in the first place. "My son will be fine--besides, he already has a crush on your CMO, so if anything happens he has a place to run to."

Braxton's mood seemed to change. "You'll have to forgive me, that was a bit insensitive to bring that up. Obviously you knew the risks before you made your decision on your family. My apologies." Replied Braxton "And who doesn't have a crush on the CMO?" He laughed.

"Well." Sebastiene grinned. "He usually doesn't like doctors. But, he didn't make a fuss after he met her. She put him at ease and even gave him candy. So, of course he has a crush."

"Give me candy and I'm putty in your hands." Said Braxton as he laughed out loud. "You got any questions for me or if theres any way I can my your stay more comfortable, you just let me know. And if it's within my power, it's yours!" Replied the XO.

He smiled. "I will be sure to take you up on that. But for now, Sunny and I have seen the Dr. Once I get my office set up, I'll begin getting officers in for a meet and greet."

"Excellent idea. If you have a problem getting anyone in to see you let me know. You know some people find it hard talking to a counselor. Take care." And Braxton led him from the briefing room.

End of Log